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Police begin releasing names of victims of Norway massacre

From a guitar-playing political star to a teenage school president nicknamed JF Kennedy, a picture is emerging of the victims of the Norway tragedies.

People take part in a march near Utoya island to pay their respects for the victims of the killing spree and bomb attack in Norway in the village of Sundvollen, northwest of Oslo. (FABRIZIO BENSCH / REUTERS)

A team of dentists, pathologists and crime techniques are working to identify the victims of Friday's bomb blast and shooting in Norway. (Paula Bronstein / GETTY IMAGES)

Flowers float in the water in Oslo a day after as many as 150,000 people gathered for a flower vigil in a show of solidarity with the victims of recent attacks in Norway. (JONATHAN NACKSTRAND / AFP)

By Lesley Ciarula TaylorStaff Reporter

Tues., July 26, 2011

A “born leader,” a talented dancer, a teenage school president nicknamed JF Kennedy, a stepbrother of the crown princess, an Iraqi-born refugee, a guitar-playing political star, a painter.

Young, smiling, inspirational. Most of them 25 or younger.

Slowly, a picture began emerging Tuesday of the victims of one man’s bombing and shooting rampage that left 76 dead.

A team of dentists, pathologists and crime techniques are working to identify them, Anstein Thread Dahl, chief of the Oslo police, said.

The newspaper Aftenposten reported 57 of the dead were found on the island of Utoya, site of a summer camp for the young leaders of the ruling Labour Party. Another 10 were found in the waters around the island or on the mainland.

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On Monday, the number of dead from the bomb blast in Oslo that preceded the island shooting rose to eight from seven.

The National Police Directorate identified four of the dead at 6 p.m. Norwegian time and said they would continue to identify victims at the same time every day. Confirmed dead are:

Gunnar Linak, who turned 23 two weeks before he died. Linak's father was talking to his son by phone when the island attack started. “The last thing I heard was: 'Dad, dad there is a shooting, I have to go’.”

A passionate soccer supporter, he was described as a “big bear.”

Three others were killed in the explosion in the capita. Tove Ashill Knutsen, who would have turned 57 on Sunday, worked as an administrative secretary at the EL & IT Association union office, the association said.

She usually biked to and from work but on Friday took the subway, where she died, the association said.

Also confirmed dead were Hanna M. Orvik Endresen, 61, a receptionist in the security department of the Government Administration Services, and Kai Hauge, a former bartender at Andy’s Pub in Oslo who recently opened his own bar, Blue Prescription, with his father, the newspaper Dagbladet reported. He who would have turned 33 on Sunday.

Here are some of the victims identified by the Norwegian newspapers VG and Dagbladet:

Ismail Haji Ahmed, 19 or 20. A talented dancer with intense blue eyes who appeared on Norway’s Got Talent. Two of his brothers on the island survived.

Monica Bosei, 45. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said of her: “For a lot of us she was Utoya.” Her husband and two daughters were on the island and survived.

Head of the Norway Maritime Museum, she volunteered at the camp as a kitchen helper and questioned Breivik’s claim he was a police officer when he refused to answer questions.

Tore Eikeland, 21, a young politician. The mayor of his hometown described him as “very talented and one of the most solid youths I have ever met,” Sky TV reported.

He spoke at the Norwegian Labour Party conferences in 2009 and 2011 and was chairman of a regional youth party. The Prime Minister said his death was “incomprehensible.”

Trond Berntsen, 51, an off-duty police officer who is reported to have died while trying to save his 10-year-old son. He is the stepbrother of Crown Princess Mette-Marit.

Here are victims listed among the missing from the island shooting by the newspapers VG and Dagbladet:

Alexander Aas Eriksen, 16. He helped start the Red Cross youth group in his hometown, Trondheim.

Adrine Bakkene Espeland, 17. Sky TV reported her friend Anna Karoline Kvarsnes posted on Facebook: “Andrine, you were a wonderful person, a person that we all should follow and look up to. Now you're gone, and it is absolutely terrible.”

Emil Okkenhaug, 15, was at his first political summer camp

Guro Vartdal Havoll, 18, was studying music in high school and served as a deputy with the youth league.

Hanne Kristine Fridtun, 19 or 20, was said to have tried to swim away from the island. Described as a kind and warm person who fought for the weak, she was active in helping wheelchair users in her community.

Havard Vederhus, 21. Sky TV reported a friend wrote on Facebook: “You are a born leader and good to all. I will miss those long discussions we had about politics.” A leader of the Oslo Labour Youth since February, he said in a newspaper interview two years ago he was involved in international issues and conflict resolution.

Johannes Buo, 14, a young political activist described as very positive and outgoing. Active in judo.

Marianne Sandvik, 16, was to begin health and social-care studies at her high school.

Jamil Rafal Yasin, 20, a refugee with her family from Iraq. Her brother survived the shooting.

Simon Saebo, 19, president at his school. Sky TV reported his friends called him JF Kennedy after the U.S. president.

Snorre Haller, 30, described as a “kind, generous and quiet” painter who was invited to the camp on the island as a guest of one of the political committees.

Sondre Dale, 17, described as a distinguished leader in political debate in his local county who played guitar in two bands. Friends on Facebook created a group, “Sondre Dale you have to get home safely.”

Sverre Fleet Bjorkavag, 28

Syvert Knudsen, 17, started the youth-league chapter in his hometown of Lyngdal.

Torjus Blattmann, 17, whose father wrote online: “Torjus was an incredibly fine and good and loving boy and what we are experiencing is completely unreal and so incredibly painful.”

Tarald Mjelde, 18, who was described by friends as “the little big boy with an enthusiasm that infected everyone around him.”

Espen Jorgensen, 17, recently elected chair of the youth league in his hometown, Bodo.

Even Flugstad Malmedal, 18.

Gizem Dogan, 17, was at her first summer camp after being elected to the Trondheim youth league board.

Hanne Anette Balch Fjalestad, 43, workedfor Norwegian People's Aid and was with her 20-year-old daughter on the island. The daughter, one of her four children, survived.

Ida Beathe Rogne, 18.

Lejla Selaci, 17, a leader of the youth league in her hometown of Fredrikstad.

Monica Iselin Didriksen, 18.

Lene Maria Bergum, 19, a leader of the youth league in her hometown of Stjordal.

Silje Fjellbu, a leader of the youth league in her hometown of Aust-Telemark.

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